Marshall v. Marshall

Citations

• 224 Conn. App. 45

Syllabus

The defendant appealed to this court from the judgment of the trial court dissolving his marriage to the plaintiff and ordering the plaintiff to pay him certain alimony and child support. At the time of trial, the defendant had been unemployed for approximately five years. On the basis of the defendant's past employment, the trial court found that he had an earning capacity of $350,000 per year. The plaintiff worked as an equity partner at M Co., an investment banking firm that she cofounded in 2012. As a partner of M Co., the plaintiff did not receive a base salary or a draw but, rather, received a percentage of the partnership's yearly net profits in the form of distributions. Each year, the partners of M Co. determine the percentage of yearly net profits that each partner will receive. The plaintiff's percentage of net profit had decreased each year from 2018 through 2021, when the trial began. Her distributions also fluctuated from year to year, and she received a total of $1.3 million in 2020 and $2.3 million in 2021. The distributions were received sporadically throughout the year, usually toward the end of the year or the beginning of the following year. The plaintiff received a Schedule K-1 (K-1) from M Co. every year, which she used to determine her net income. Prior to the commencement of the dissolution action, the plaintiff sent a text message to the defendant stating in relevant part that she was planning to reduce her participation in M Co. and was starting her ''exit plan.'' According to the plaintiff's testimony at trial, this text message was merely the result of her being frustrated and upset and she was not in an ''exit process.'' She also testified that she hoped that the text would persuade the defendant to begin seriously looking for employment. The defendant argued that there was a causal relationship between the plaintiff's suggestion that she would reduce her income and the reduction in her percentage of M Co.'s net profits in 2020, alleging